HOT LIST

FEATURED

God Bless the USA,” said WH Auden, “so large, so friendly, and so rich.” And the poet, whose face was more heavily lined than Clapham Junction railway station, knew his subject, for he lived and worked in the States.

A maiden Test century at The Oval in 2013 proved the opening of the floodgates for Smith who, having once been the butt of English jokes for his initial selection in 2010-11 based on an ability to bring levity to a humourless Australian dressing room, has now arrived on these shores as the world’s No1-ranked batsman and the key wicket for Alastair Cook’s attack following 12 months in which he has averaged 102 in 16 innings.